Pineview Nightshift

[Springbuck1]

"One modification that I do is, remove the split rings and hook and tie directly to the spoon, I believe this helps to make a more direct connection to my jig with less slop."

That's good thinking.....

Literally everything else you wrote is exactly what I would have written, if I was telling someone new to PV the basics at PV, although I appreciate the effort.  I DO use spring bobbers because I use my home-made rods, usually, but if I'm getting bites, i see them.  I catch lots of crappie at PV, so that isn't my problem.

Just hoping for specific insight on that inline spoon thing.  Sounds like it doesn't, then?  But, you mentioned "slack-line" bites, which I didn't mention specifically, and did mention called "negative bites".

This is the kind of thing I was wondering. Your tackle is going down the hole, a and a crappie grabs your jig.  Now, before you can notice the "slack line bite" the line has to be slack, but that means the fish has your jig in his mouth, and the spoon hanging tight against his mouth, or you don't see slack.  See what I mean?  In my experience, light-biting, or finicky fish are going to hate that feeling of the weight and spit out the little jig long before you realize your line is truly slack.  Won't they?

Or is your line tight all the way down?  Does it just not matter?  It is only an 8" dropper, you said.

Yes 6-8” dropper and my line does stay tight on the drop unless I get a negative bite. I keep my dropper short so I think on a negative bite I still see my line pause and give it a lift. I’m watching my jig drop on my fish finder and often times see the fish rise to it and I’ll pause before it gets there, I think the fish that are picking it up on the drop are the aggressive fish and are not bothered by a 1/8th oz Kastmaster even if the fish drops the jig it will probably pick it up again. I only catch a very small percentage on a negative bite anyway, the vast majority come on the dead stick in my hand. I would gladly miss a few fish on the drop if I can get my jig back down in the target zone quicker.

Ok, that makes sense as I think through it.  Thanks for being patient with me wen I get hyper-focused. 

I wasn't taking the fish-finder itself into consideration, which is funny because I finally have a cheapo hand-held unit and I quickly learned to do the same, at least to find the depth where the fish are coming through.  Mine isn't good enough to see fish hit it, though. 

I will say I have less luck getting them to hit a second time if I miss even a tap.